See the California cities with the highest, lowest homicide rates

If you witness a crime, here’s what to do

Witnessing a crime and reporting it can be just as frightening as being the victim of a crime. Here’s what you should do if you witness illegal activity.

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Witnessing a crime and reporting it can be just as frightening as being the victim of a crime. Here’s what you should do if you witness illegal activity.

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The number of homicides in California rose for the second consecutive year in 2016, and some cities were hit much harder than others, according to new FBI data.

Cities with high poverty rates tend to have high homicide rates. Cities with low poverty rates tend to have few murders – if any at all.

Six California cities with more than 50,000 residents saw murder rates of more than triple the statewide rate. But 46 cities of that size saw no murders in 2016, including a few in the Sacramento region.

Almost 80 percent of large California cities with no murders last year also had lower poverty rates than the statewide average, FBI and census figures show. By comparison, just 14 percent of the 50 California cities with the highest murder rates also had less poverty than the statewide average.